So today is the day we are officially open to walk-ins.
I posted my anticipated schedule yesterday, and other than a minor bump here and there, it worked out pretty much as planned.
It was, in the midst of its busyness, a day filled with blessings and clearly seeing that God is at work here.
After a great coffee meeting with the newest member of our church missions council, I went to pick up our rescued food from Chipotle. It wasn't ready, even though I arrived during our given window. There seems to be a big misunderstanding with the manager about timing. One of the employees did prep the food, but not without making it obvious it was an inconvenience. He also did a sloppy job, so the bags of food were a mess. I had to rebag when I got back to the church. I called Food Donation Connection again to report the situation and they were a bit frustrated with the manager as well. We will stick with them for the short term, because even if I ultimately decide it isn't worth the effort for the relatively small amount of food we get, I want them to have a better understanding of how this works for the next organization.
When I got back to the pantry, our set up volunteer was well at work. She really likes working behind the scenes, and being able to walk in to a pantry that is set and ready to go makes my life so much easier.
Our bread had been delivered, and our clothing closet had been organized. There had also been new donations dropped off that we put away.
My homeless guest was a little late. I am still working on God to help me with discernment on a judgement call about this couple, and still waiting to see if we are going to be able to give bigger assistance than we have to this point. Meanwhile, I was able to get him some food they could store and eat in the car (apples, canned soups with pop tops, bananas, cereal, bottled water) and a bit of cash. Handing over cash makes me nervous on many levels, but this is a tricky situation, and if he is sincere this is the biggest help. Two donors gave me cash for this family, so I passed it along rather than going to get a gift card.
While he was still there, new volunteers came for an orientation. I got him taken care of, warmed up some WaWa sandwiches in the microwave for them, and sent him on his way. Got stopped and asked about photos for a church brochure before I could get back to the new volunteers.
I gave them the overview, and they had great questions - but I felt rushed and off my game there. Still, they did great today despite my less than stellar orientation.
I still had volunteers walking through the door as guests were arriving, but despite my inclination to quickly get moving, I paused to pray with the volunteers who weren't already engaged. Really glad we got that holy pause in.
We had 10 volunteers working the pantry today, which is a blessing of abundance. It allowed me a chance to sit and talk to a couple of guests more in depth. We served 32 different families coming through the door, which was probably closer to 40 individuals in the building. Some people like to bring a family member with them, and one had to bring her children. (Over the past 7 days, we served 96 individuals in 38 households. Eight were new faces to us. This is actually a pretty low number of individuals for so many homes, but it's because we saw a lot of seniors who live alone or in couples who are empty nesters.)
The first guest I got to sit down and talk to today was a middle aged woman not much older than myself. She comes with her mother. While her mother was out of the room, she told me how she (the daughter) had been recently diagnosed with dementia. Her doctor had recently told her she needed to leave work and go on disability because of her anxiety and depression. During some routine tests and evaluations, he diagnosed the dementia. I'm really glad I got to talk to her. She seemed as if she were trying to be positive today, and I think it helped her just to talk.
Later in the day, I got to talk to a man about my age whose sister is coming to visit for Christmas. She is developmentally challenged and lives in an adult group home out of state. She had a recent MRI to screen for a recurrence of cancer, and wasn't going to be able to come if results were bad. He was so excited to hear she was okay and coming to visit, and was telling me all about his plans for her Christmas while she is hear.
Still, there was lots of rushing about. There was a long wait for many people. This does not make anyone happy. Some people are much more relaxed about it than others, but several people were a bit grumpy and irritable about the wait. I know I don't like waiting either. We reminded folks that if the don't like a wait they can make an appointment for another day.
Even though we technically close at 1:30, we had 1 new guest arrive right at 1:30, and 2 more show up at 1:45. It was after 2 when we got everyone out. Volunteers who couldn't stay were invited to leave as they needed, but most stayed. Several of us were there chatting afterwards for awhile during clean up.
Laura and I both felt the need to tidy up because it looks like a small hurricane came through. This was a good thing since one of our ministers came down to take the photos for the brochure. We chatted with her for awhile.
Lucky for me, another volunteer offered to run errands and make a delivery for the shut in guest I spoke to yesterday. That is a huge help to me.
I still wish I had done more tidying up, but I had to get home to check on my dogs before picking my daughter up at school, so I left it. Tomorrow I will fix it.
Tomorrow looks like a relatively light day for pantry work, but there are a few things brewing that I could have to handle.
At present, just some tidying up and arranging to get ready for next week, plus 1 appointment with someone whose work schedule conflicted with our hours today.
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